Tottenham favourite suggests club would sell key man for £100m

Tottenham would find it difficult to turn down £100 million for Harry Kane, according to Paul Gascoigne.

Kane scored 41 goals in 48 appearances across all competitions for Spurs in 2017/18 and has been handed the England captaincy ahead of this summer’s World Cup finals in Russia.

The 24-year-old striker has been linked with a move to Real Madrid in recent months, but Tottenham look set to retain the key players Marucio Pochettino wants to keep this summer.

Madrid have reportedly ended their pursuit of Pochettino, who they had hoped would take over as manager at the Bernabeu, and there is no indication the La Liga giants will target Kane before the start of next season.

But Gascoigne, who watched Kane score twice on the final day of the campaign against Leicester City at Wembley, claims his former club would find it difficult to turn down big offers for their talisman.

“It’s player power now,” Gascoigne told Bet Stars. “If the money is right and Tottenham want to sell him, they will do. That’s the thing nowadays – players have too much power, with their agents.

“If a team comes in with £100m for Harry Kane, I don’t think Spurs will turn it down.”

It almost goes without saying, but it’s highly unlikely Tottenham would accept an offer as low as £100m for Kane in today’s market.

Neymar’s £197m move to PSG last summer has moved the goalposts financially, and Spurs would probably ask for a similar (if not higher) fee for Kane.

Why is football coverage nowadays dominated by this or that old pro, presumably steeped in restaurant ownership, property development or landlordism, holding forth about “business”, and this or that transfer or player performance being “a good bit of business”? As if this is the measuring stick, when really they can’t think themselves past the financial pages. That the people managing any club think in terms of income streams and financial outgoings, on the other hand, is quite natural. Where the views of Paul Gascoigne and any another talented, knowledgeable footballer would be of real interest, is in assessing players like Harry Kane’s footballing qualities.